The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and the method, and a providing medium, and more particularly, relates to an information processing apparatus and the method and a providing medium which can guide a variety of routes without holding map data.
The car navigation equipment which applies the GPS (Global Positioning System) for receiving radio waves from a predetermined man-made satellite to obtain the latitude and longitude of the place where one is now has been spreading.
However, a conventional car navigation equipment is composed of many devices such as a GPS receiving device, a drab for reproducing the map data stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM, a display for displaying map pictures, and a control device such as a CPU for controlling these devices, so that the size of car navigation equipment becomes large and there is a problem that a car navigation equipment is difficult to be used portably. Moreover, devices constituting a car navigation equipment are respectively expensive, so that there is a problem that a car navigation equipment itself becomes expensive.
Also, although a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM can store a large size of information (map information), it is finite, so that there is a problem that the contents of route guidance in the car navigation equipment is limited.
Further, a method of guiding a route in a conventional car navigation equipment is to guide the routeway for destination, and a variety of guiding methods in accordance with user""s interest, moving purpose (e.g., sightseeing) and so on are not proposed, so that there is a problem that more abundant information can not be proposed to an user.
This invention is to solve the problems described above, and to provide an information processing apparatus, which is inexpensive and downsized, to offer the information in order to perform a variety of guidance.
To solve the above problems, according to this invention, an information processing apparatus comprises: detecting means for detecting positional information; first transmitting means for transmitting the positional information detected by the detecting means to the server; inputting means for inputting the predetermined route search conditions; second transmitting means for transmitting the route search conditions input by the inputting means to the server; receiving means for receiving guidance data transmitted from the server, the guidance data corresponding to the positional information transmitted by the first transmitting means and corresponding to the route search conditions transmitted by the second transmitting means; and output controlling means for controlling the output of the guidance data received by the receiving means.
Further, according to this invention, an information processing method comprises: detecting step of detecting positional information; first transmitting step of transmitting the positional information detected at the detecting step to the server; inputting step of inputting the predetermined route search conditions; second transmitting step of transmitting the route search conditions input at the inputting step to the server; receiving step of receiving guidance data transmitted from the server, the guidance data corresponding to the positional information transmitted at the first transmitting step and corresponding to the route search conditions transmitted at the second transmitting step; and output controlling step of controlling the output of the guidance data received at the receiving step.
Further, according to this invention, a providing medium for providing a program readable by a computer which executes processings including: detecting step of detecting positional information; first transmitting step of transmitting the positional information detected at the detecting step to the server; inputting step of inputting the predetermined route search conditions; second transmitting step of transmitting the route search conditions input at the inputting step to the server; receiving step of receiving guidance data transmitted from the server, the guidance data corresponding to the positional information transmitted at the first transmitting step and corresponding to the route search conditions transmitted at the second transmitting step; and output controlling step of controlling the output of the guidance data received at the receiving step.
As a result, according to these information processing apparatus, information processing method, and providing medium, positional information is detected; the detected position information is transmitted to a server; the predetermined route search conditions are input; the input route search conditions are transmitted to the server; guidance data which is transmitted from the server and which corresponds to the transmitted positional information and the transmitted route search conditions is received; and the output of the received guidance data is controlled, so that the information processing apparatus can be made inexpensive and downsized.
Further, according to this invention, an information processing apparatus comprises: acquiring means for acquiring positional information transmitted from the terminal; receiving means for receiving the predetermined router search conditions transmitted from the terminal; detecting means for detecting map data corresponding to the route search conditions received by the receiving means; setting means for setting guide point corresponding to the route search conditions received by the receiving means to the map data detected by the detecting means; generating means for generating guidance data to guide the guide point set by the setting means, correspondingly to the positional information acquired by the acquiring means; and transmitting means for transmitting the guidance data generated by the generating means.
Further, according to this invention, an information processing method comprises: acquiring step of acquiring positional information transmitted from the terminal; receiving step of receiving the predetermined router search conditions transmitted from the terminal; detecting step of detecting map data corresponding to the route search conditions received at the receiving step; setting step of setting guide point corresponding to the route search conditions received at the receiving step to the map data detected at the detecting step; generating step of generating guidance data to guide the guide point set at the setting step, correspondingly to the positional information acquired at the acquiring step; and transmitting step of transmitting the guidance data generated at the generating step.
Further, according to this invention, a providing medium for providing a program readable by a computer which executes processings including: acquiring step of acquiring positional information transmitted from the terminal; receiving step of receiving the predetermined router search conditions transmitted from the terminal; detecting step of detecting map data corresponding to the route search conditions received at the receiving step; setting step of setting guide point corresponding to the route search conditions received at the receiving step to the map data detected at the detecting step; generating step of generating guidance data to guide the guide point set at the setting step, correspondingly to the positional information acquired at the acquiring step; and transmitting step of transmitting the guidance data generated at the generating step.
As a result, according to these information processing apparatus, information processing method, and providing medium, the positional information transmitted from a server is acquired; the predetermined route search conditions transmitted from the server is received; map data corresponding to the received route search conditions is detected; guide point corresponding to the received route search conditions is set to the detected map data; guidance data to guide the set guide point is generated correspondingly to the acquired positional information; and the generated guidance data is transmitted, so as to execute a variety of guidance.